Evolving

So yesterday morning I tried to go ice skating with a friend. I used to take ice skating lessons in middle school, and really loved it. I thought it would come back with ease, but I failed to properly take into account that my body has changed. Skating was harder not only without my good ice skates, but also with the throbbing pain in my legs. I finally got off the ice, frustrated, and angry. I sat down, took of my skates, and began to cry. Skating is now one more thing on a growing list of things that are hard for me to do. I probably over-did it yesterday, sending me into a bit of a flare-up today. Luckily, I am on break, and can spend whole days eating away at my mom's fabulous cooking and our ever-growing DVR list.

Being on break has been nice, its been really good to see and reconnect with my family, spending Christmas with both sides. Its also been great to see old friends, but also hard. Change is an inevitable part of leaving home. But what I sort of left out of this equation, was that not only was I changing, but my friends and home life are too. The world I created for myself, is different than the one I came back to. I went to an alumni reunion at my high school, and remembered that nostalgia can make things seem rosier than they really were. I am seeing my friends evolve into both people that I am proud to call my friends, and people that I have grown away from, and thats ok.

On Christmas night I snuggled into my armchair to watch the Doctor Who Christmas special, featuring a reintegration. Through tears, I managed to fall in love with this wonderful quote below.

I am a different person than the girl who left back in August, and so are those that I love. I can remember the good times, and the bad, keeping both in my memory, and yet keep evolving. I have a little bit over two more weeks here in Ohio, plenty of time to see people, collage and knit to my hearts content, eat my fill of delicious home cooked meals and spend my days resting. Then its back, back to classes, mediocre food, hours of reading and writing, and my friends. I have to keep reminding myself that I have changed, and so have my friends, and thats okay. Thats what we are supposed to do, thats how life works. 

 "But times change, and so must I... we all change. When you think about it, we are all different people, all through our lives and that's okay, that's good! You've gotta keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be."-The Doctor, The Time of the Doctor (2013).